Research Handbook on Law, Movements and Social Change

Book excerpt: The study of law and social movements provides an ideal lens for rethinking fundamental questions about the relationship between law and power. This Research Handbook takes up that challenge, framing a more global, dynamic, reflexive, and contextualised phase of social movement studies. Featuring international and interdisciplinary contributions, chapters focus on democratic and authoritarian rule, social movement strategies, identities, social positions, and the relationship between narratives and power. This Research Handbook not only asks why movements succeed or fail, but more broadly how law and movements become conduits for entrenching or resisting power. Calling for novel approaches to law and social movements scholarship, it provides an expansive range of case studies on the topic, and grapples with questions of governmental regimes, power, and social change. This interdisciplinary Research Handbook will be of great value to sociologists, political scientists, and other sociolegal scholars with an interest in global perspectives on social movements, democracy, and authoritarianism. It will also be a relevant read for policymakers, activists, and legal professionals.